03. The Ministry of Angels

The Ministry of Angels The angels, they attended on Christ in all the passages of his life and death till they brought him to heaven.* They brought news of his birth, comforted him in his agony; they were at his resurrection, and you see here they attend. At his ascension they accompany him. And as they did to the Head, so they will to the members. In our infancy, they take charge of our tender years; in our dangers, they pitch their tents about us; in our deaths, they carry our souls to Abraham’s bosom, a place of happiness. At our resurrection, their office is to gather our bodies together. That service and attendance they afforded the Head they afford to the members; to mystical Christ as well as natural. Therefore let us comfort ourselves in the service they did to Christ.

Now, besides the apparition of the angels, here is the speech of the angels: ’Woman, why weepest thou?’ They knew she had no cause of weeping, for Christ whom she sought was risen again.

She answereth, ’Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.’ If it had been as she supposed, there had been cause enough of her weeping, if her Lord had been taken away; for when the Lord is taken away, what remaineth that is comfortable? And if the Lord be not taken away, it matters not what is taken away. For he is all in all. Carnal people, so they have their wealth, and friends, and comforts in the world, they care not what is taken away. But she is of another mind. ’They have taken away my Lord,’ and what comfort can I have if my Lord be taken away? But it was but the speech of an opinion; she did but think it. And there were two things might lead her, truth and probability, which is the-foundation of opinion. Probability: he is not here, therefore he is taken away. Truth: Christ promised he would rise again, therefore he would take away himself. There was certain truth to ground faith, and weak probability to ground opinion. Yet such is the nature of weak persons in distress. If there be probability and certain truth, yet they will be sure to cleave to their probabilities. Oh, theirs be great sin! Ay, but there is greater mercy for faith to lay hold upon. So the presumptuous sinner saith, God is merciful.’ Ay, but God hath excluded thee from heaven; thou art an adulterer, a swearer, a filthy person; thy opinion is grounded scarce upon probability. ’God is merciful,’ but not to such sinners as live in sins against reconciliation as thou dost, 1Co 6:9. Therefore, when one hath but probability to ground opinion, and the other certain truth to ground faith, be so wise for our souls as to take the best and leave the other. If she had remembered his promise to raise himself out of the grave, she needed not to have doubted.

’They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.’ ’They have taken away.’ She instanceth none. And when she had thus said, she turneth her back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. The angels hold their peace when Christ speaks, and it is their place so to do. But she knew not that it was Jesus in respect of her passion. Her senses were held partly by the power of God, and partly by a kind of passion that was a cloud between her and Jesus, that she knew him not at that time.